Brewers Make Their Manager Sweat in Road to Series Win in Phoenix

Miraculously, the Brewers are at the all-star break. I sort of rushed through these 44 games, especially when it became clear that this season was ultimately gonna be a wash. But it had been three or so weeks since I last rolled, and all I needed to do before the break was get in a series against Jim's D-Backs, which is always a mixed bag. My first time, coincidentally also my last series before the ASG break last year, I got swept, and couldn't get a damn thing done against Ryan Feltner. And he just went and got Alec Bohm and Francisco Lindor. So, with my middling Brewers, now without Kyle Stowers and with a slightly depleted bullpen, I just needed to show up and win some close games. And I did just that, taking 3 from Jim in a close, competitive series. 

This ended up being my first series win of 2026, which is a wild statement to make in June. As you'll see from the writeup, it was a win that wasn't all pretty, but I still got it done.

Here now the writeup:

Game 1: Diamondbacks 5, Brewers 3

W: Jesus Luzardo

L: Carlos Rodon

SV: David Bednar

Jim would later remark that this was the game that he thought would give him the most trouble, but surprisingly he was able to find the weak points of Carlos Rodon's card pretty easily. Though admittedly I scored the first run, on a Matt McLain RBI in the 2nd, the D-Backs dealt the most potent blow, one I wouldn't be able to come back from. In the third, Alec Bohm and Andrew Vaughn singled on, then Ivan Herrera stepped up and, on a relatively low chance I think, shot it deep and far. A 3-run bomb for Herrera, giving Jim a 3-1 lead, to be immediately padded by some contact work by Isaac Collins and Francisco Lindor. 

Luzardo had a relatively strong night against the Brewers, going 6 innings, striking out 7 and only giving up 2 runs, one on the RBI in the second, and one on a surprise home run from Carlos Santana of all people. The bullpen closed this out pretty well, despite Bednar giving up a pinch-hit bomb to Gavin Lux in the ninth. Of course, this was after Jacob Young had a pinch hit RBI single of his own, so it didn't mean much.

Jim got a lot of the rolls on this one, and struck when it was most advantageous to. This was the game he rolled a 2-for-20 steal for Alec Bohm. That was when I knew I wouldn't be accomplishing much in this game.

An interesting note about this series: Mike was in the neighborhood for a bit, stopped by not too long after the Herrera homer, and stayed til the end of Game 1. 

And then he left...and then something extremely funny happened.

Game 2: Brewers 1, Diamondbacks 0

W: Matt Boyd

L: Zac Gallen

SV: Jhoan Duran

I did not think the Brewers had a 1-0 shutout in them this year. Winning by 1 I can buy, but winning by 1 in a shutout...that is wild. 

And ultimately this is where Jim stopped getting the rolls, because Matt Boyd doesn't have the hardest card to hit and he only allowed 5 hits and a walk. There were baserunners, and I knew there would be, as I started my worst defensive lineup for this one. Gavin Lux at 2nd, Heliot Ramos in left, Connor Norby at 3rd, Liam Hicks at 1st, and new Brewer Bryan Reynolds in right. I did this because Boyd's card didn't have a ton of defensive x-splits, and I figured I could just leverage it behind Boyd. Somehow I was right. There were hits on defensive splits, including a double on Reynolds' 4, and there were two infield errors [one from Lux and the other from Xander Bogaerts, one of my better fielders]. But none of those errors or defensive hits led to any real bloodshed. This team, this defense, held the D-Backs down. Somehow.

Now, to be fair, Zac Gallen had a great line too. 7 and 2 thirds innings, 6 hits, only one run on a Gavin Lux RBI single. The Brewers had a ton of situations where it would have helped to get something going, but it did not happen. Like the Boyd card, that Gallen card isn't exactly impenetrable, but it did the trick. We couldn't get past the bullpen either, especially since Connor Norby kept grounding into double plays and Jackson Chourio continued to waste precious at-bats.

So this one came down to Jhoan Duran in the ninth, which can be scary this year. And the man did let a baserunner get to second. But around that he struck out 3 guys and finally, FINALLY, got his first save of the year. Yes, IN JUNE. THAT'S HOW LONG IT TOOK. 

The Brewers only needed one little run to win this game. I'm still shocked. I was waiting, especially late, for Jim to roll something big. For the first of two times, the game came down to Lindor, and here it was a very cathartic K. 

Game 3: Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 1

W: Jameson Taillon

L: J.T. Brubaker

SV: Daniel Palencia

Jameson Taillon's card has some very clear black ink. You get far enough down the 5 or 6 column and you'll find it. Except Jim did not. No matter how hard he tried, he got everywhere in those columns and could not find the hits. And thus, a Jameson Taillon card that's either garnered losses or no-decisions thus far wound up with its first win, with 7 shutout innings of 4-hit ball. I have no idea how Taillon did it. 

Though, to be fair, the D-Backs were no-hitting me for 5 innings. J.T. Brubaker got the start and looked sharp, with 5 innings of dominant work, despite some walks and a HBP. Then, right around the end of his innings slate, the hits started coming. First J.P. Crawford. Then Gavin Lux [my best hitter of the series] singled the HBP'd Matt McLain home. Then Reynolds singled Crawford home. Then Ramos sacflied. Despite his start to the day, Brubaker was letting the game slip away along with his season. Brad Lord would later allow another RBI from Ramos in the 8th. A lot of RBI singles this series. 

The D-Backs would eventually get a run on the board, thanks to an Andrew Vaughn pinch hit RBI double off Daniel Palencia [though Graham Ashcraft got the runner on to begin with]. But Palencia would once again end the game on Lindor, this time with a flyout. And here Palencia got HIS first save of the season. A commanding win, one I'm still in disbelief over. 

Game 4: Brewers 2, Diamondbacks 1 [F/11]

W: Daniel Palencia

L: David Bednar

Another wild one. The game began with an Alec Bohm solo shot followed by a Blaze Alexander sac-fly RBI that made the game 1-1 in the second. And from there...we stopped scoring runs for a bit. 

The story of this game can be told in a lot of stranded baserunners [12 for the Brewers, 7 for the D-Backs], a lot of missed ballpark singles [after going from 1-to-15 to 1-to-13 we just stopped getting 'em], and a lot of Milwaukee stolen bases. Keep in mind, we don't steal often, and in this game we stole five. 2 of them were from Xander Bogaerts, and one of them was from Wilmer Flores, meaning I actually rolled a 2-for-20. 

Meanwhile, Andrew Abbott had a strong start, going 6 with 3 Ks and 3 hits [all singles]. Sonny Gray wasn't too bad either, only giving up the homer, striking out 4 and allowing 5 hits. The Brewers' bullpen also kept things moving, with Lake Bachar and Jhoan Duran having multi-inning stints with no runs. So, of course, this one went to extras.

In the 11th, Heliot Ramos [in for a hurt Blake Perkins] singled on, then David Bednar allowed two more singles, including another RBI one from Blaze Alexander, meaning, yes, both Brewers RBIs this game came from the same guy, and MY NINE HITTER at that. But it was just that run, meaning AGAIN Daniel Palencia needed to put out the fire. Well, he struck out 2 and Luis Arraez grounded out to end it. Meaning somehow...the Brewers won that third game. 

So, just to make it clear what happened. Jim and I started playing. Mike came over, Jim won the first game. Mike left. I won three more games. The moral of this story is that I guess the Brewers can't win when Mike is watching? But that's not the weird part. The weird part is that the Brewers won those last three games...without hitting a single home run. In fact, in those last three games, only one Brewer hit something that wasn't a single, and that was a double from none other than Bryan Reynolds. The guy Mike just traded me.

What kind of sick, sadistic joke is this?? It's literally a 'I won, but at what cost??' ending. I won three incredibly tight games but on singles and small stuff alone. Now...to be fair, in Jim's park that's how you need to win, and I made it a point to program my best contact hitters during this series, which is why the name 'Drake Baldwin' did not come up in this writeup. So I managed the hell out of these, even if I still had to give those wins to chance in the end. But it's just a wild turn of events.

Anyway. Well played to Jim. All of these were tight and you could feel the sweat dripping off my chair every time I had to attempt to close out a ninth inning against that lineup. None of these were easy, and the D-Backs are closer to a playoff team than the Brewers are.

I am on break for...what, like two weeks, right? And then I will start to rush through the rest of this season to get to what will hopefully be a much better 2027 slate. I plan on doing some selling this deadline, so let me know if you're looking at a deal for one of my guys. Chourio's off the table though. It's a non-starter. Same with Miz and Baldwin. Might put out a more comprehensive email in a bit as to who I'm open to moving.

We're 16-28 at the break. Last year we were 17-27 at the break. I knew I'd be worse than last year, but at least I'm only one game worse. Makes beating 37 wins, which I finished with last year, palpable. So that's at least a decent sized dragon to chase for the second half, cause lord knows I'm not making it to the playoffs.